Reflector



W. LARKIN.

REFLECTOR.

APPLlCATlON. FILED MAY 4. 1918.

1,333,551 a Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

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REFLECTOR.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM LARKIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of lVashington, have invented new and useful Improvements in Reflectors, of which 'the following is a specification.

' This invention is an improved reflector for use as a signaling device along highways railroads, shore lines and in other places where lights may be. directed upon the refiector from an exterior source such as by the headlights of automobiles or from the search lights of vessels or the like. My invention is also adapted for use in tail lights on automobiles,wagons, bicycles and other vehicles and also inilluminated signs. The object of the invention is to provide an improved reflector of this kind which utilizes the light proceeding from an external source to produce a luminous signal and to thus mark a dangerous place on a road, a railway crossing, a wharf or the like and which may also be caused to produce a colored light, if this be desired.

The invention consists in the combination of a reflector and a panel arranged for.

with a centrally arranged oppositely inclined conical reflector 2 which extends into the space contained within the reflector 1.' The annular reflecting surfaces 3 and 4 are preferably as shown wherein they are arranged at right angles to each other, the base of the central reflector joining the truncated end of the outer reflector 1.

A transparent or translucent signalmg panel 5 extends across the base of the reflector 1 and comprises a colored central-portion 6 and a clear surrounding or outer portion 7. The panel may be made of glass or of any other suitable material.

The reflector may be secured on a post or other supporting object and arranged at one Specification of Letters Patent; I

side ofa roadway, at a dangerous point, or at a railway crossing, or at a wharf, or at any other desired place and is so held as to be illuminated by the rays of light from the headlights of an approaching automobile, boat or vehicle. Such rays of light are reflected by the surfaces 3, 4 through the panel so that the panel is strongly illuminated and hence the said reflector makes its presence known and operates as a signal, as will be understood. When the colored portion 6 of Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

-Application filed May 4, 1918. Serial No. 232,542.

the panel is provided the reflector produces a colored light.

Light rays striking the clear annular zone 7 of the panel, pass freely through, strike.

the conical reflector 3, are reflected across to the reflector at and from thence to the inner surface of the colored center 6. Part of this light may pass through this colored center and will be given the color thereof. Much of this light will, however, be reflected back upon the central reflecting cone 4, thence across to the outer conical reflector 3 and thence out through the panel? back to the original exterior source of 1i ht.

In consequence of the action described, the central colored section will be seen, by the reflection of its inner surface, over the entire area of the surrounding annular zone 7. In consequence, the entire area of the glass face 5 will appear illuminated and colored as is the center 6. When constructed as described and w1th the diameter of the central panel 6 substantially equal to the diameter of reflector 4, the

device, when seen from in line with the exterror source of illumination, Wlll show illuminated over its entire face and as having the color of the central panel 6.

If the signalbe placed at a slightly different angle so that the rays of light are inclined to the common axis of the cones 3 and 4, this illumination would be directed, not

directly back to the source of the light, but

somewhat to one side. It may, therefore, be

used to give a warning down the opposite] side of a sharp reverse turn .or back along an angular-1y intersecting road.

The reflector may also be used as a tail light for an automobile or other vehicle and will become illuminated and will serve efficiently as a signal when theautomobile is approached from the rear by another having headlights, the rays of light from the headlights of the followingautomobile being uti. lized to illuminate the reflector.

part of which is substantially coextensive in area with the central colored section and I alined therewith, the reflecting surfaces being disposed in such relation to each other that rays received through one of the-sections of the lens are reflected through the other section of the lens in parallelism with the incoming rays.

2. A reflecting signal comprising a truncated conical reflector and a concentrically placed conical reflector, the two having their apexes in reversed position, and a glass plate covering the base of the larger reflector and having a central area of a warning color.

3. A reflecting signal comprising a truncated conical reflector and a concentrically placed conical reflector, the two having their apexes in reversed position, and a glass plate covering the base of the larger reflector and having acentral area of a warning color, and of a size corresponding with that of the base of the smaller reflector.

l. A reflecting signal comprising a truncated conical reflector and a concentrically placed conical reflector, the two having their apexes in reversed position, and a lass plate covering the base of the larger re ector and having a central area of a warning colon tor and having a central colored area of the I I same diameter as that of the base of the inner. reflector and transparent without this area. 2 J

In testimony whereof I aflix m y signature.

WILLIAM LARKIN. 

